Brexit: Statement by Guy Verhofstadt and the EP Brexit Steering Group | News | European Parliament

EU Press release

The Brexit Steering group met Michel Barnier, EU negotiator for Brexit on Tuesday 25 July and issued this common statement after the 2nd round of negotiations between the EU and the UK.

“Last week was the first real round of Brexit negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom. It was an opportunity for the two parties to review the main issues and map out where further explanations are necessary,” said the Members of the EP Brexit Steering group.

“However, if we want negotiations to succeed within the limited time we have, progress on more detailed content will have to be made sooner rather than later. We can only start talking about a new EU-UK relationship if sufficient progress has been achieved in the three main withdrawal areas: citizens’ rights, the financial settlement and the border issue on the island of Ireland.”

“The European Parliament cannot be clear enough that sufficient progress means progress across the board, and not just in one or two areas. The European Parliament will formally and in due time indicate when the point of ‘sufficient progress’ has been reached”

“To be precise, the European Parliament will remain vigilant regarding citizens’ rights and will continue to push for full rights for EU citizens in the UK as well as UK citizens in the EU. It is a core mission of the European project to protect, not to diminish, the fundamental rights of all citizens."

“The European Parliament specifically seeks to fully safeguard the rights concerning family reunion, comprehensive healthcare, voting rights in local elections, the transferability of (social) rights, and the rules governing permanent residence (including the right to leave the UK without losing this status). Simultaneously, we seek to avoid an administrative burden for citizens and want proposals which are intrusive to people’s privacy off the table, e.g. proposed systematic criminal checks.”

“Last but not least, the European Parliament wants the Withdrawal Agreement to be directly enforceable and to include a mechanism in which the European Court of Justice can play its full role.”

You can read the original Press Release here: Brexit: Statement by Guy Verhofstadt and the EP Brexit Steering Group | News | European Parliament

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Analysis

Reading between the lines, it's very clear that the UK delegation is doing bugger-all and acting in what their EU counterparts consider to be arrogant bad faith. The members of the Brexit Steering Group may rest assured that they are not the only ones getting this impression.

Meanwhile, the futures of at least 70 million people - UK residents and UK citizens elsewhere in the EU - are hanging directly in the balance. Not just because of residence rights and all the red tape eliminated by virtue of being part of the EU. Nor just because the UK is expected to pay for accrued liabilities, such as pension rights for EU27 citizens who have worked in or for the UK. There is serious concern about the risk of violence breaking out again in Northern Ireland. What happens to Gibraltar? While both UK and Spain are in the EU, there is a truce over sovereignty there as well.

The list is almost endless. It will be impossible to get through in 1 year and 8 months, which is all that remains before the Article 50 notification period ends. An extension to that period is only possible if  all EU27 countries agree to it. Sending arrogant, incompetent, unprepared morons, to not so much negotiate as go out of their way to antagonise their opposite numbers, is exactly how not to demonstrate the good faith necessary to convince other countries to give that desperately needed breathing space and the equally desperately needed "transition period" of 5 years to get the Brexit-caused red tape sorted out without destroying too many lives.

Further reading:

• Guardian: Fail to prepare, prepare to gloriously succeed in Brexit negotiations
• David Allen Green: The true saboteurs of Brexit (FT blogs)
• Independent: Former British EU negotiator says Brexit was a 'terrible idea' and even the Government doesn't understand how bad it will be (not the snappiest of titles - AT)
• Quartz: How Brexit negotiations are going, in one photo